mmmmr- 


mifimmii^^m 


The  photo  of  Elbert  Hubbard 
and  party  (See  opposite  page)  was 
taken  at  Stanley  Park,  Vancouver, 
British  Columbia,  7th  October,  1909, 
upon  the  occasion  of  Mr,  Hubbard's 
visit  to  Vancouver  as  guest  of  the 
Terminal  City  Club,  Mr.  Hubbsird, 
wearing  a  broad-brimmed  hat,  is 
seated  in  the  rear.  J.  J.  Hart  in. 
Chairman  of  the  Reception  Committee, 
occupies  the  front  seat  with  the 
chauffeur.  Ilr,  Kalstead,  Secretary 
of  the  Club,  occupies  side  seat  back 
of  the  chauffeur.  Mr.  Hubbard  and 
his  wife  were  since  drowned  on  the 
ill-fated  Lusitania — victims  of 
Prussian  diabolism. 


% 


University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


Gift  of 


Daisy    Martin    Redston 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/bookofroycrofterOOroycrich 


Copyright 

1907 

By  Elbert  Hubbard 


CONSECRATED     LIVES 


j^  [  '  '  '^  "RSFRF/S  a  thought,  Dearie,  that  I  give 
to  you  because  I  haven't  a  very  firm 
•  grasp  upon  it  myself.  In  order  to  clarify 
my  mind  I  explain  to  you.  And  thus, 
\^  .  ;  .  X^j  prnhahly.  do  I  give  you  something 

which  is  already  yours.  Grateful?  Of  course  you  are 
— there! 

The  thought  is  this: — but  before  I  explain  it  let  me 
tell  you  what  a  man  saw  in  a  certain  cottage  in  Den- 
mark. And  it  was  such  a  little  whitewashed  cottage, 
too,  with  a  single,  solitary  rose  bush  clambering  over 
the  door.  An  artist,  his  Wife  and  their  Little  Girl  lived 
there.  There  were  four  rooms,  only,  in  this  cottage — 
a  kitchen,  a  bedroom,  a  workroom  cuid  the  Other 
Room.  The  kitchen  was  for  cooking,  the  bedroom  for 
sleeping,  the  workroom  for  work,  and  the  Other  Room 
was  where  the  occupants  of  the  cottage  received  their 
few  visitors.  When  the  visitors  remained  to  tea  or  lunch 
the  table  was  spread  in  the  Other  Room,  but  usually 
the  Artist,  his  Wife  and  their  Little  Girl  ate  their  meals 
in  the  kitchen,  or  in  sunmier  on  the  porch  at  the  back 
of  the  house. 


Now  the  Artist  painted  pictures,  and  his  Wife  carved 
beautiful  shapes  in  wood ;  but  they  did  n't  make  much 
money — in  fact  no  one  seemed  to  know  them  at  all. 
They  did  n't  have  funds  to  accumulate  a  library,  and 
perhaps  would  n't  if  they  had.  But  still  they  owned  all 
the  books  written  by  Georg  Brandes. 
These  books  were  kept  in  a  curious  little  case,  which 
the  Artist  and  his  Wife  themselves  had  made. 
And  before  the  case  of  books,  was  an  ancient  Roman 
lamp,  suspended  from  the  ceiling  by  a  chain. 
And  the  lamp  was  kept  always  lighted,  night  and  day. 
C(  Each  morning,  before  they  tasted  food,  the  man  and 
his  Wife  read  from  Georg  Brandes,  and  then  they  silently 
refilled,  trimmed  and  made  the  lamp  all  clean  and  tidy. 
C[Oho!  why,  your  eyes  are  filling  with  tears — how 
absurd — and  you  want  to  hear  more  about  the  Artist 
and  his  Wife  and  the  Little  Girl ! 
But,  bless  me!  that  is  all  I  know  about  them. 
However,  I  do  know  that  Georg  Brandes  is  one  of  the 
Apostles  of  the  Better  Day.  His  message  is  a  plea  for 
beauty — that  is  to  say,  harmony.  He  would  have  us  live 
lives  of  simplicity,  truth,  honesty  and  gentleness.  He 


•the  Roycroft  ^op 


i^ruiLS  and  jbiowcfS 


Tlje  Cabin 


idiM 


A  W^ork  Room 


The  Bookbindery 


mm 


would  have  us  work  for  harmony  and  love,  instead  of 
for  place  and  power.  Georg  Brandes  is  an  individualist 
and  a  symbolist.  He  thinks  all  of  our  belongings  should 
mean  much  to  us,  and  that  great  care  should  be  exer- 
cised in  selection.  We  need  only  a  few  things,  but  each 
of  these  things  should  suggest  utility,  strength,  harmony 
and  truth.  All  of  our  actions  should  be  suggestive  of 
peace  and  right.  Not  only  must  we  speak  truth  but  we 
must  live  it.  Our  lives  should  be  consecrated  to  the  Good 
— lives  consecrated  to  Truth  and  Beauty.  Consecrated 
Lives! 

And  so  this  Artist  and  his  Wife,  I  told  you  of,  were 
priests  of  Beauty,  and  the  Little  Girl  was  a  neophyte; 
and  the  room  where  the  Roman  lamp  burned  was  filled 
with  the  holiness  of  beauty  and  no  unkind  thought  or 
wrong  intent  could  there  exist. 
Consecrated  Lives!  that  is  the  subject  *^  There  is  a 
brotherhood  of  such,  and  you  can  reach  out  and  touch 
finger  tips  with  the  members  the  round  world  over  "^ 
Beauty  is  an  Unseen  Reality — an  attempt  to  reveal  a 
spiritual  condition.  Members  of  this  Brotherhood  of 
Consecrated  Lives  do  not  take  much  interest  in  Salis- 


bury's  Political  Policy,  and  all  the  blatant  blowing  of 
brass  horns  that  are  used  on  'Change,  in  pulpits,  or  by 
Fourth  of  July  speakers  are  to  them  trivial  and  childish. 
They  distinguish  at  once  the  note  of  affectation,  hypocrisy 
and  pretense  in  it  all.  They  know  its  shallowness,  its 
selfishness  and  its  extremely  transient  quality. 
Yet  your  man  of  the  Consecrated  Life  may  mix  with 
the  world,  and  do  the  world's  business,  but  for  him  it 
is  not  the  true  world,  for  hidden  away  in  his  heart  he 
keeps  buming  a  lamp  before  a  shrine  dedicated  to  Love 
and  Beauty.  The  Adept  only  converses  at  his  best  with 
Adept,  and  he  does  this  thru  self-protection.  To  hear 
the  world's  coarse  laugh  in  his  Holy  of  Holies — no! 
and  so  around  him  is  a  sacred  circle,  and  within  it  only 
the  Elect  are  allowed  to  enter. 
To  join  this  Brotherhood  of  Consecrated  Lives  requires 
no  particular  rites  of  initiation — no  ceremonial — no  rec- 
ommendations. You  belong  when  you  are  worthy.  But 
do  not  for  a  moment  imagine  you  have  solved  the  dif- 
ficulty when  you  have  once  entered.  To  pride  yourself 
on  your  entrance  is  to  run  the  danger  of  finding  yourself 
outside  the  pale  with  password  hopelessly  forgotten. 


Within  the  esoteric  lines  are  circles  and  inner  circles, 
and  no  man  yet  has  entered  the  inmost  circle  where  the 
Ark  of  the  Covenant  is  secreted.  All  is  relative. 
But  you  know  you  belong  to  the  Brotherhood  when 
you  feel  the  absolute  nothingness  of  this  world  of  society, 
churches,  fashion,  politics  and  business;  and  realize 
strongly  the  consciousness  of  the  Unseen  World  of 
Truth,  Love  and  Beauty.  The  first  emotion  on  coming 
into  the  Brotherhood  is  one  of  loneliness  and  isolation. 
You  pray  for  comradeship,  aind  empty  arms  reach  out 
i  nto  the  darkness.  But  gradually  you  awaken  to  the 
thought  that  you  are  one  of  many  who  hope  and  pray 
alike ;  and  that  slowly  this  oneness  of  thought  and  feeling 
is  making  its  impress  felt. 

Then  occasionally  you  meet  one  of  your  own.  This  one 
may  be  socially  high  or  low,  rich  or  poor,  young  or  old, 
man  or  woman — but  you  recognize  each  other  on  sight 
and  hold  sweet  converse  "^  Then  you  part,  mayhap, 
never  to  meet  again,  but  you  are  each  better,  stronger, 
nobler  for  the  meeting. 

Consecrated  Lives!  You  meet  and  you  part,  but  you 
feel  a  firmer  impulse  to  keep  the  light  buming — the  altar 

5 


light  to  Truth,  Simplicity  and  Beauty.  No  other  bond 
is  required  than  that  of  devotion  to  Truth,  the  passion 
of  listening  in  the  Silence,  the  prayer  for  Wholeness 
and  Harmony,  the  earnest  desire  to  have  your  life  re- 
flect the  Good. 

All  man-made  organization  would  be  fatal  to  the  sweet, 
subtle  and  spiritual  qualities  of  the  Brotherhood.  For 
organization  means  officers,  judicial  robes,  livery,  arbi- 
trary differentiation,  and  all  the  absurd  and  foolish  pomp 
of  place  and  power.  It  means  the  wish  to  dictate,  select 
and  exclude,  and  this  tokens  jealousy,  prejudice  and 
bitterness — fifteen  candidates  for  a  vacant  bishopric 
with  heartaches  to  match!  No  organization  ever  con- 
tained within  its  ranks  the  best.  Organization  is  arbitrary 
and  artificial!  It  is  born  of  selfishness;  and  at  the  best 
is  a  mere  matter  of  expediency. 
The  Brotherhood  of  Consecrated  Lives  admits  all  who 
are  worthy,  and  all  who  are  excluded,  exclude  them- 
selves. If  your  life  is  to  be  a  genuine  consecration  you 
must  be  free.  Only  the  free  man  is  truthful;  only  the 
heart  that  is  free  is  pure  *^  How  many  compose  this 
Brotherhood — who  shall  say?  There  are  no  braggart 

6 


statisticians,  no  paid  proselytes  with  their  noisy  bocistings. 
Two  constitute  a  congregation  and  where  they  com- 
mune is  a  temple.  Many  belong  who  do  not  know  it; 
others  there  be  who  think  they  belong  and  are  so  sure 
of  it  that  they  do  not. 

But  the  Brotherhood  is  extending  its  lines;  and  what 
think  you  the  earth  will  be  like  when  the  majority  of 
men  and  women  in  it  learn  that  to  be  simple  and 
honest  and  true,  is  the  part  of  wisdom,  and  that  to 
work  for  Love  and  Beauty  is  the  highest  Good? 


^«r-i 


Ruskin  Room 


A  1 1 1  TLE  JOURNEY  TO  EAST  AURORA 


^^  ;  '  '.  '  TJAST  AURORA  is  a  village  eighteen 

miles  southeast  of  Buffalo,  New  York. 

"  In  this  village  live  the  Roycrofters, 

, '  more  than  four  hundred  of  them.  They 

C.^  ,  ■  .  '  .^!l  sill  ^^^^ — they  work  with  "Head, 
Heart  and  Hand."  They  have  no  servants  and  no  bosses 
— they  have  teachers  and  leaders  instead.  The  Roy- 
crofters tum  out  books  that  sell  as  high  as  fifty  guineas. 
Some  of  these  books  go  to  Paris,  Florence,  Leipsic  and 
London,  in  competition  with  the  finest  things  in  the  book 
line  that  the  world  has  produced. 
The  Roycrofters  paint  pictures;  and  are  represented  at 
the  Salon  in  Paris  and  in  the  best  galleries  of  America. 
The  Roycrofters  make  furniture  which  adoms  palaces, 
and  omamental  copper  and  iron  work  that  commands 
the  patronage  of  connoisseurs. 

And  yet  the  Roycrofters  are  simple  folks,  who,  living 
in  an  obscure  country  village,  have  by  the  excellence  of 
their  lives  lifted  the  place  into  a  fame  that  is  world-wide. 
([  To  search  the  earth  for  talented  people,  bring  them 
together  and  produce  art,  would  be  easy;  but  for  two 


or  three  persons  to  begin  in  a  barn  without  capital,  in 
an  average,  little,  quibbling,  narrow-minded  country  vil- 
lage where  the  art  impulse  is  conspicuous  by  its  absence, 
and  educate  and  evolve  skilled  workers  out  of  crude 
material  and  at  the  same  time  make  money  so  as  to 
extend  the  business — that  is  an  achievement ! 
The  Roycrofters  are  organized  as  a  corporation,  but 
work  together  as  a  Community. 
They  own  and  operate  a  Printing  Plant,  a  Book  Bind- 
ery, a  Hotel,  a  Farm,  a  Bank,  a  Blacksmith  Shop,  a 
Cabinet  Shop. 

They  also  weave  rugs,  model  in  clay,  make  stained  glass 
windows,  and  raise  flowers,  poultry,  vegetables,  live- 
stock, and  run  a  dairy  ^  They  have  an  art  gallery,  a 
chapel,  a  ballroom,  a  playground,  a  brass  band  and  an 
orchestra.  Their  Phalansterie  is  so  arranged  that  one 
side  of  all  sleeping  rooms  is  open,  so  practically  they 
sleep  out  of  doors.  They  have  very  little  use  for  doctors. 
C(  Their  property  must  be  worth  half  a  million  dollars. 
They  issue  no  bonds,  give  no  mortgages  and  have  no 
debts,  making  it  a  rule  to  expand  only  as  fast  as  they 
can  pay  for  the  improvements.  Now  all  of  the  things 

10 


BVi 


Furniture  Shop 


1 


The  Well 


St.  Peter's  Gate 


we  have  just  mentioned  exist,  in  degree,  elsewhere.  So 
there  must  be  something  else,  otherwise  the  eyes  of  the 
world  would  not  be  turned,  as  they  are,  towards  East 
Aurora. 

And  this  other  thing  is  the  vital  thing ;  and  books,  furni- 
ture, pictures  and  carpets  are  only  the  by-products  "^ 
And  that  vital  thing  is  Atmosphere.  And  Atmosphere 
produces  Character. 

On  a  great  oaken  door  at  Roycroft  is  this  line  from 
Walt  Whitman:  "Produce  Great  People — the  Rest 
Follows!" 

Great  people  make  an  atmosphere,  and  in  turn,  of  course, 
an  atmosphere  reacts  on  the  people.  As  far  as  we  can 
judge,  knowing  America  fairly  well,  we  should  say  that 
there  is  more  of  the  true  Art  Spirit  in  East  Aurora 
than  in  any  other  place  in  the  United  States. 
Rich  men  in  any  city  may  subscribe  large  sums  and  erect 
art  galleries  and  lay  out  parks.  These  are  like  fine  houses 
built  by  contractors,  and  fumished  by  professional  deco- 
rators, whose  business  it  is  to  please  the  owner. 
Art  must  be  indigenous,  spontaneous.  The  best  art  of 
the  Roycrofters  is  seen  in  their  buildings  and  homes. 


u 


C(  In  America  there  is  much  of  the  parvenu  quality,  so 
we  see  houses  that  are  mere  curiosity  shops,  in  which 
are  jumbled  the  loot  of  the  world ;  and  in  England  the 
spirit  of  the  bourgeois  is  found  to  almost  the  same  degree 
— coarse,  crude,  gilt  and  gaudy  displays  of  wealth !  "^ 
Very,  very  seldom  do  we  find  harmony  and  wholeness 
and  absence  of  fussiness  in  decoration. 
And  all  because  the  decoration  and  ornament  are  pur- 
chased, bought — produced  by  one  set  of  men  for  another 
set  of  men  who  are  in  a  totally  different  business. 
"Where  the  artist  is,  there  is  art,"  said  Whistler.  To 
get  art  you  must  let  the  artist  make  the  thing  for  himself ; 
whenever  you  bribe  or  coerce  him  you  get  a  departure 
from  the  pure  type. 

Great  art  has  only  been  produced  by  simple,  isolated, 
self-sufficient  people — and  people,  too,  who  are  more 
or  less  crude,  barbaric  and  racy  of  the  soil.  Such  were 
Michael  Angelo,  Rembrandt,  Frans  Hals,  the  Bellinis, 
Cellini,  Pallissy,  Millet,  Wedgwood,  Turner  "^  The 
artists  in  literature  have  been  men  like  Ruskin,  Tolstoy, 
Whitman,  Thoreau,  Hugo,  Shakespeare. 
Folks  who  are  sophisticated,  smart,  alert,  astute,  work 

12 


their  energies  up  into  foam  and  erect  tenements  that 
collapse,  grand-stands  that  break  down,  processionals 
that  melt  when  caught  in  a  shower,  street-fairs  that 
dissolve  in  a  high  wind. 

But  at  Roycroft  one  realizes  somewhat  of  the  atmos- 
phere that  built  the  Parthenon  "^  As  we  stood  in  the 
moonlight  at  East  Aurora,  and  looked  up  at  the  great 
stone  tower  that  rises  above  the  main  shop,  built  of 
glacial  stones  gathered  in  the  near-by  fields,  we  were 
hushed  into  silence  and  tears  by  the  strength  and  dignity 
of  the  lines — so  self-sufficient,  so  bold  yet  so  modest, 
speaking  of  eternity  and  telling  of  the  shortness  of  human 
life,  for  these  buildings  will  endure  long  after  the 
builders  are  dust. 

And  these  beautiful  buildings  are  workshops — planned 
and  erected  by  working  people  for  working  people  "^ 
([  So  this  is  the  idea,  the  Roycrof ters  are  building  for 
the  generations  that  are  to  follow — they  are  influencing 
a  people  yet  unborn! 

The  Roycroft  Inn,  or  "Phalansterie,"  is  a  building 
without  decoration  or  ornament,  and  so  simple  and 
subdued  that  at  first  sight  it  would  not  command  the 

13 


attention  of  the  average  man.  But  on  closer  view  one 
finds  it  a  model  of  elegance  and  convenience — an  ele- 
gance so  refined  that  it  passes  for  simplicity.  The  dining- 
room  we  thought  quite  equal  to  some  of  those  German 
creations  at  Karlsruhe. 

All  of  the  furniture  in  this  little  hostelry  was  made  by 
the  Roycrof ters  themselves,  and  in  the  sparsity  of  oma- 
ment,  the  subdued  colors,  the  beautiful  grains  of  the 
hard  woods,  one  sees  the  sure  influence  of  William 
Morris. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  Roycroft  work  was  founded 
on  the  idea  of  William  Morris,  but  let  no  one  imagine 
that  the  Roycrofters  are  mere  imitators — they  have,  in 
many  respects,  passed  Morris  far.  One  thing,  William 
Morris  inherited  a  fortune  and  always  had  the  money 
to  secure  the  talent  he  desired,  if  it  was  not  close  at 
hand.  But  the  Roycroft  has  had  to  produce  its  work- 
men. And  to  a  great  degree  the  best  people  now  in 
the  Roycroft  Shop  are  those  with  a  tortuous  past  "^ 
Some  have  seen  the  inside  of  court  rooms,  from  the 
criminal  dock;  others  are  quite  familiar  with  bankruptcy 
proceedings,  and  it  almost  seems  as  if  all  of  them  had 

14 


E'.-srsbn  Walk 


Roycpoft  Chapei 


■M 


at  some  time  slipped  or  stumbled;  but  if  they  fell, 
they  got  up  again,  and  now  surely  are  going  bravely 
forward. 

In  the  Shops  are  seen  all  ages  from  children  to  octo- 
genarians. Then  there  are  the  blind,  the  deaf,  and  now 
and  then  a  mental  defective — but  all  at  work,  busy, 
happy — losing  themselves  in  useful  effort. 
It  would  be  absurd  to  say  you  could  build  up  a  com- 
munity with  the  defective  or  broken-down,  but  if  you 
have  enough  strength,  character,  purpose  and  love,  the 
whole  concern  will  not  only  float,  but  will  make  head. 
C(  So  the  Roycrofters  have  among  them  a  deal  of  firm, 
moral  and  mental  fibre — men  and  women  who  can 
keep  the  hoops  on  the  barrel  and  the  chimes  in  place. 
C{  The  Roycrof t  has  no  figureheads,  no  hangers-on,  no 
pensioners — everybody  works.  The  Roycrof  t  is  a  school 
and  factory  combined,  and  many  of  the  workers  fully 
realize  that  they  are  getting  paid  here  for  doing  what 
they  would  have  to  pay  for  the  privilege  of  doing 
elsewhere. 

Next,  there  is  no  waste.  Poultry  and  live  stock  con- 
sume what  is  not  wanted  at  the  Phalansterie  or  Inn; 

15 


and  people  who  work  steadily  eight  hours  a  day  do 
not  destroy,  nor  are  they  given  to  roystering. 
Two  magazines  of  world-wide  circulation  are  published 
by  the  community,  and  these  to  a  certain  degree,  ad- 
vertise and  sell  the  wares  of  the  concern.  Next,  Mr. 
Hubbard's  presence  is  in  demand  as  a  public  lecturer, 
and  for  his  services  in  this  way  he  is  paid  several  hun- 
dred dollars  a  night,  all  of  which  money  goes  into  the 
Roycroft  treasury  '^  At  the  same  time  the  lectures 
advertise  the  Roycrofters,  for  Mr.  Hubbard  does  not 
endeavor  to  conceal  the  fact  that  he  is  in  business. 
Then  there  is  a  stream  of  visitors  who  go  to  this  won- 
derful place,  and  who  all  leave  more  or  less  money  "^ 
Occasionally  these  visitors  remain  for  weeks  to  study 
bookbinding,  music  or  art,  and  so  are  a  source  of  income. 
C(  The  various  departments  of  the  Shop  give  a  chance 
to  try  workers  in  different  places — if  they  don't  fit  in 
one  place  they  may  elsewhere.  Then  the  care  of  the 
grounds,  flowers,  gardens,  etc.,  afford  opportunity  for 
those  too  old  or  without  the  capacity  for  skilled  work. 
([  Possibly  it  is  not  feasible  to  have  a  Roycroft  Shop 
in  every  town,  but  surely  we  can  all  cultivate  the 

16 


Roycroft  spirit,  which  is  to  "live  one  day  at  a  time, 
do  our  work  as  well  as  we  can,  and  be  kind." 
Things  only  happen  when  some  strong  man  makes 
them.  We  think  that  the  real  achievement  of  Elbert 
Hubbard  has  been  in  securing,  and  to  a  great  degree 
in  educating  excellent,  earnest  people,  and  then  keep- 
ing them  at  work  together,  happy  and  harmonious. 
—FRANCIS   AND    ABIGAIL   FARRAR 


^tir^ 


17 


?(€♦> 


OF  THE 
ROYCROFT 


2^32. 


M^^^ 


/-t-^t-*v-^ 


^ 


'^^^^i.rv^V^''''**^ 


r)*6 


^ 


